An updated Night Map, more widely issued

On the Night Map, both the uptown 4 and 6 trains provide a connection to the D and F at Broadway-Lafayette.

With the long-awaited opening of the transfer between the uptown IRT at Bleecker St. and IND station at Broadway-Lafayette earlier this week, Transit had to issue a new subway map. In doing so, the agency has decided to release a revised version of the Night Map as well.

The Night Map is the MTA’s recognition that one map isn’t quite enough. With overnight subway service vastly different than that of rush hour, the Night Map serves to provide late-night riders in the know with a proper route around the city. The first edition was available only at the Transit Museum in Brooklyn the museum’s Annex in Grand Central Terminal. It was quite popular amongst map collectors, to say the least.

“The first edition of the night map was a fabulous edition to our map offerings and a big hit with Museum visitors,” Gabrielle Shubert, Director of the New York Transit Museum, said. “Customers weren’t happy we only gave away one copy per customer, but because it was a limited edition, we wanted to make sure as many museum patrons as possible had a chance to get one.”

With the second edition of the Night Map, the MTA is expanding distribution. Still, only 25,000 copies will be available, but these copies can be picked up at some of the stations that suffer the most from overnight service changes, including all of the R stops in Brooklyn from 36th St. to 95th St., the overnight M train terminals and stations along the Queens Boulevard route that see significant reductions in subway frequency.

The Night Map is available online right here as a PDF, and the full list of stations carrying it comes after the jump. Pick one of these up when you can. Supplies won’t last.

12 Responses to “An updated Night Map, more widely issued”

So now there are just two “official” MTA maps that still show the unidirectional Bleecker Street transfer. The first is fairly obscure; the initial Weekender map – before you zoom in – has the split in the #6 line at Bleecker, but once you zoom in at that point, the split is gone. However, when you switch from this “Subway Diagram View” to the “Neighborhood Map View”, there are two Bleecker Streets once again.

Seems like more of a collectible item for transit buffs rather than a functional product although of course it has a function. Otherwise why only make it available at the Transit Musuem stores, in limited quantity? And in 2.0, ‘select’ stations, seemingly chosen at random. e.g. no Penn, no Union Sq, but 95 St on the R?

Still, only 25,000 copies will be available, but these copies can be picked up at some of the stations that suffer the most from overnight service changes, including all of the R stops in Brooklyn from 36th St. to 95th St., the overnight M train terminals and stations along the Queens Boulevard route that see significant reductions in subway frequency.

It’s a collector’s item for those who don’t need it (e.g., Transit Museum), but it will also be available at convenient locations for those who do.

This reminds me of one of my pet peeves: why does the 4 run local at night? (Whereas, for instance, the D still runs express.) It makes sense with the A because the C doesn’t run and the E is a drastically different route, but with the 6 running local and along the same route through almost the entirety of Manhattan, why not still run the 4 express?